History

Intent – What do we want children to learn?

History at Birchwood

At Birchwood, we believe it’s important for children to develop a strong understanding of the past. Through history, they learn to respect different traditions, cultures, and the ways historians explore past events. By looking at what has happened before, children can better understand the world they live in today.

We teach history to help children make connections between different time periods and to build a clear sense of how events have unfolded over time. Our aim is for children to empathise with people from the past through engaging and meaningful learning activities, while also learning to respect and celebrate differences.

We also recognise that history supports learning in other subjects across the curriculum. Our history curriculum is built around two key areas of knowledge (outlined below).

1) Substantive knowledge

Topic Knowledge

We plan each history topic carefully so that children can explore key events and societies in detail. Our lessons follow the national curriculum but are tailored to meet the needs of our pupils. This thoughtful planning helps children remember what they’ve learned over time.

Chronological Knowledge

Children learn about different time periods in a way that helps them build a clear timeline of the past. They explore important events, people and places, and learn to place these in the correct order. Where appropriate, they use timelines and are encouraged to make links between what they’ve already learned and new topics, helping them see the bigger picture of history.

Substantive Concepts

Throughout every topic, children are introduced to key historical ideas—called substantive concepts—such as power, invasion, or monarchy. By seeing these ideas in different historical settings, children develop a deeper understanding of how they shape events and societies. These concepts are woven into the content to help children make sense of what they’re learning.

2) Disciplinary knowledge

Thinking Like a Historian

At Birchwood, we want our children to go beyond simply learning historical facts. We help them understand how history is studied and interpreted—just like real historians do.

Children explore how our knowledge of the past is formed by looking at specific examples of how historians have studied and presented history. Over time, they build a deeper understanding of how evidence is used to form opinions, interpretations, and judgements about events and people from the past.

Each history lesson is guided by a big enquiry question. This helps children focus on key ideas, think deeply, and begin to form their own historical analysis as they learn new content.

Historical Thinking Skills (Second Order Concepts)

Historians use a set of key skills to study the past. These are called second order concepts, and we teach them across all topics:

Sources and Evidence – understanding where our knowledge of the past comes from
Historical Interpretations – learning how different people can view the same event in different ways
Cause and Consequence – exploring what led to events and what happened as a result
Change and Continuity – recognising what has changed and what has stayed the same over time
Similarity and Difference – comparing people, events or places across time periods
Historical Significance – thinking about why certain events or people are remembered

Children are shown clear examples of how historians use these skills to ask questions, use evidence, and draw conclusions. They also learn how to apply these same skills in their own work—building their ability to think critically and understand the complexities of the past.

Implementation – How are we going to achieve our intent?

At Birchwood, our history topics are planned using our “Wheel of Wisdom” curriculum. Children learn about different eras of history in each year group and educational visits are planned to enrich, support and deepen their learning.

Timetable and Approach

Humanities is taught weekly as a subject area.
The subjects alternate half-termly—one half-term is History, the next is Geography.
To keep Geography knowledge fresh, we include “Geography flashbacks” at the start of each History lesson. These quick reviews help children recall what they’ve learned before and build connections between topics.

By teaching History every week during its term, children can build on what they already know and strengthen their memory of key facts, skills, and ideas.

Carefully Planned Curriculum

To support high-quality teaching and learning:

Teachers use knowledge organisers for each topic. These outline the key knowledge and skills children should learn and remember.
Planning is guided by Progression of Skills grids, which align with the National Curriculum to make sure children are learning age-appropriate content at each stage.
We also create bespoke medium-term plans for every history topic. These plans carefully select the most important knowledge we want children to embed into their long-term memory.

Bringing History to Life

We aim to make history meaningful and engaging by:

Linking high-quality books to the historical periods children are learning about
Giving children opportunities to write across subjects, especially in English, to help them express their understanding in different ways

Impact – What will it look like when we have achieved our intent?

At Birchwood, we are proud of the many ways our history curriculum has a positive and lasting impact on our pupils. Teachers have high expectations for what all children can achieve in History, and learning is both ambitious and inspiring.

Our History subject leader helps foster a real love for the subject through special assemblies tied to historical themes—like celebrating St George’s Day—which make learning feel meaningful and connected to the world around us.

We also make the most of real-life experiences to bring history to life, including visits to rich local sites like:

Framlingham Castle
Colchester Castle
A World War II walk with a local MBE
Medieval re-enactments
Egyptian workshops

Making the Most of Our Local Area

Wherever possible, we use local history and geography to enhance learning. For example:

When studying “Our Local Area” and World War II, pupils explore real places and stories from our community.
They learn about Douglas Bader, a significant local figure from WWII, and visit the old runway near our school that was once part of a wartime airfield.
Pupils also interview local residents and take part in field trips around Martlesham Heath, combining both historical and geographical learning.

These experiences boost children’s interest, enthusiasm, and sense of connection to their own community. One standout example is a piece of WOW Homework on Martlesham Heath—so impressive, it was published and is now on display at the British Museum!